this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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Birthdate field under discussion also in Arch Linux (github.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by pglpm@lemmy.ca to c/linux@programming.dev
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Add a required birth date prompt (YYYY-MM-DD) to the user creation flow, stored as a systemd userdb JSON drop-in at /etc/userdb/.user on the target system.

Motivation

Recent age verification laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc. require platforms to verify user age. Collecting birth date at install time ensures Arch Linux is compliant with these regulations.

This is just a pull request, no changes yet.

The pull-request discussion thread has been locked, just like it happened for the similar thread in Systemd, owing to the amount of negative comments...

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[–] ascend@lemmy.radio 1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I thought it was an optional field, like the name field

[–] itsathursday@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

It might be for now or in the current implementation but the implication that this information, should it exist, can then be validated and enforced on a service or application level with this value or expansion to more formal forms of identity and age verification is where we are forced to meet dystopia and exchange pleasantries while the guardians watch over our sanctioned play dates.

[–] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago

ISO Standard corpofascism ruse. It's optional until it's not / "the first dose is free".

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

In systemd it would be optional. This post is about the OS making it a requirement to ask the user birthdate and using said optional field to store it.